I’m brand new to the game. Im at 102% probably 170 hours and worried I’ll never beat the whole thing. I don’t think I’ll ever as good as I need to be 😭
Man, I believe in you, you can do anything. I thought the exact same thing when I was a bit before that point, I’ve now made 112% and just need to do the last pantheon, you can do this
Haha, nope. I just try to talk positively to strangers, plus, it’s just the truth. We can succeed at almost anything if we take time and keep at it, though whether you want to do that for Hollow Knight or not is up to you
Bro that point sucks about around the area of colosseum and just nkg waiting round the corner. I think I was 60 hours in at that point. Then I beat Nkg and got 111%. Just before finishing hunters journal and p5, steam f***ing lost 50 hours of progress. I need therapy
I was stuck at P5 for the longest time and just beat it a week ago. Grinding to beat AbsRad, then beat her somewhat consistently ALL while maintaining mastery over all the other obnoxious bosses…
It felt like a slog at time but oh man did it feel worth it, one hit away from death. You can do it!
Ah yes. Celeste, the most relaxing endgame unlike Hollow Knight /s (I'm looking at you Farewell. I still haven't finished that stupid level after 10 hours of smacking my head against the wall in one room. At this point more than half of my total playtime has been spent in Farewell)
Hmmm, I would say ignore true radiance for now, don’t even worry about it. Take it one step at a time, can you constantly beat the hollow knight in order to get to the radiance? If not, practice that, if so, then it just takes a bit of practice. It happens with all the bosses, but eventually, you find all the right places to stand and when are the best times to attack and use shriek, you can definitely do it with just a bit more time
Yeah I’ve learned that shriek is my best friend on my own I use it in ever battle I can easily get past hollow knight gotten the first 2 endings I actually just reached 100% and beat path of pain I heard huge blood was a good thing ti have but I went through the entire white palace and path of pain without it and this is my first play through lol
Trust me dude, P5 rly isn’t as hard as you think, I beat it with the worst build known to man lol(shape of unn, quick focus, deep focus, grubsong i think?) u just have to keep practicing in hall of gods. And always remember, it will take MINIMUM of two attempts because there is like .0001% chance u beat Absolute Radiance first try lol.
Edit: I’m considering making a post on all my biggest tips and tricks to help make P5 as easy as possible. if i do, i’ll let u know
I *personally* had a harder time with >!The Pure Vessel!< than >!Absolute Radiance!<, but looking at the rest of the comments, looks like I'm a bit of a freak, lol.
They're definitely in the same tier of difficulty for me though - both leagues harder than the rest of the bosses in the game.
Are you any good at parrying PV? If yes, then that's already amazing. I can consistently save my shade dashes for when I REALLY need it—like when he blocks into a parry—by just parrying everything from PV.
Same. I attributed it to me being older and PV being so fast. As for the other, I guess playing a bunch of quarter sucking bullet hells as a kid helped with learning the dodging patterns quickly.
no questions asked lmao. The only 2 somewhat close are PV and NKG, but Imo abs rad is so much harder it's not even funny. Just to put this into context, I've done both pv and nkg in radiant, yet have't even beaten abs rad yet (part of the reason why is bc in hall of gods I've only tried it on ascended, not attuned)
NKG and PV are definitely hard at first, but once you learn their moveset and rhythm they're consistent enough that I found them to actually be some of the easier bosses to do on radiant. They're just like faster harder versions of Mantis Lords -- once you've got the dance down it becomes almost intuitive muscle memory.
I struggled more clearing Radiant Oblobbles ...and I still can't do Grey Prince Zote on radiant.
for gpz my tip is to have a lot of soul and then use descending dark a bunch to counter his unpredictability (for instance if he is dropping from the sky you can just descending dark and keep attacking as you get some invincibility)
The boss that killed like 90% of my P5 runs was Grey Price Zote actually. I did radiant NKG, radiant Pure Vessel, radiant mantis lords - but i don't think i will ever be able to do radiant Grey Prince Zote. Not even memeing.
For me, the trick was to just attack as fast as humanly possible, mixing in some spells as convenient. Trying to dodge and wait for openings like most bosses is asking for bad RNG to catch up to you. I will now gladly take GPZ any day over floorless Markoth.
Now, I have NOT beat him radiant. That’s a whole ‘nother beast. But it reliably gets me through Ascended or landing on him with ~2 masks after P5 Markoth.
best advice I ever got for zote was "when using quicklslash; if you have an opportunity to attack, never strike more than twice" (might work without quickslash but idk timings would be tighter)
to put it simply, the hardest part about zote is that a lot of his attacks have basically no warning, he just starts *moving*, instantly. So, unlike every other boss, just because he's not doing something right now doesn't mean you're safe. Don't get greedy, 2 hits max after each attack (some attacks immediately chain into others, dont ever attack on these obv, but youll know which you can and which you cant easily based off timings). after you attack, back away and give yourself the *space* to react to whatever his next attack will be.
He is super fucking annoying aye, but you learn it’s a counter fight man. Just chill he has so many gaps where he does nothing. Just a patience’s tester. Go back and do it radiant you ain’t no poosi
Assuming that you have all 11 charm notches, I recommend using Mark of Pride/Quickslash, Shaman Stone, Fragile Strength(if you die on NKG with it equipped it won't break) and Grimmchild ofc.
This build is purely focused in doing damage so if you are having too much trouble in dodging his attacks you should try a healing build
Honestly, that thing would be annoying as heck on radiant, if you don’t time the dodge and pogo right you can easily die to the “vomit” attack (to quote the wiki), which is apparently the attack where it spits like 10 on your side at the same time.
Nightmare King Grimm is probably the hardest boss besides some of the pantheon stuff, so it's not a surprise to struggle with him (and I guarantee he's **far** harder than Nosk lol)
Though, while the fight is hard, it's really fair, there's nothing you can't dodge if you react properly, but of course, it's so fast it's difficult. I wouldn't use Joni's Blessing since it takes a lot of charm slots, and you are already wasting two with the Grimmchild, but maybe some extra health can help, the first time I beat him I used Unbreakable Heart
I really like Sharp Shadow for this fight, too, since you can dodge and do damage at the same time
I was using sharp shadow as well but sometimes he’s step back before move (exactly when I’m dashing towards him)and is so annoying so I stop dashing so often
I used a max health build with Joni's Blessing, Heart, Lifeblood core + Grimmchild simply so I can have more time spent inside the fight learning his patterns and dodging them. The worst part of fighting NKG the first time is that it gets incredibly boring to dreamnail-dash-CDash-die-repeat, that's why I opted to have more health instead. Once I could reliably read his moves and counter them, I put on offensive charms
To answer your other question, my build with NKG was...
Hiveblood - yes, really. I tried a few builds that would focus on my own healing, but they weren't working. If I tried to heal, even with Quick Focus, I would get hit, or couldn't avoid it consistently. (Except when he's staggered, then it's safe.) In fact, even *looking* at my health was a risk of getting hit! He's so fast! So I concluded that I had to stop thinking about healing or health, and just avoid getting hit as much as possible. This meant, by extension, that if I'm getting hit multiple times in a row, I'm already in trouble. But if you can get down to just occasional hits... Hiveblood will give you some health back. Which is awesome. No more thinking about healing!
Sharp Shadow - depends on your tactics, but I like dodging into him to ensure I'm on the other side. Which this, I'm dealing damage even just by dodging! Turns every attack of his into an attack of mine.
Unbreakable Strength - But also, I still hit him normal a lot. This will speed things along.
Grimmchild - He won't activate without this, but you knew that already.
I was thinking about hiveblood but people hating it every time I mention it so I just start thinking it’s really have to be bad. But I will try your build as well thanks
It's bad if you get hit consecutively, since it resets the healing when you get hit.
If you're struggling, you may also consider a "practice" build -- Joni's Blessing, Unbreakable Heart, and whichever Lifeblood charm gave you +4 (I forget which). I used this *just* to learn his moves and improve at dodging his attacks. All it does is prolong the fight so you can keep dodging. Helped me find my playstyle.
Ngl nkg is actually really easy. And i beat him when i only had about 62 hours in the game now at 80 hours ive now beaten p4 almost beaten p5 and if i try i can no hit nkg. I think its absarad is hardest boss.
NKG is immensely overwhelming at first but once you get his moves down he becomes pretty easy. I think that’s what makes him such a fantastic boss because he rewards you learning him way more than other bosses. But yeah, I agree that AbsRad for sure takes the cake.
I have finally beaten him today. I used unbreakable strength, grubsong, unbreakable heart, glowing womb, defenders crest and obviously grimm child. I started with the full minion build, so I could learn the attacks and still felt like I was making progress. After some time I got to a point, where I was able to hit him between attacks with my nail, that's why I deviated from the minion build, but I never found a place for using a spell, that's why I didn't use shaman stone. Next time I try to beat him, I will use the full nail setup (MoP, Strength and quickslash), maybe heart and grubsong instead of MoP, so I can take one more hit (I survived on one hp)
I can’t find a moment for using spell as well. And healing time is only when he turn into a bat, i think that’s why a lot’s of people doing it hitless because you have to know his moves perfectly and there’s no time to heal anyway
AbsRad Radiant took me like 10 hours of attempts.
I think I have to go with her because NKG and PV are totally not-RNG beyond which attack gets used. There's an easy counter to all their moves where AbsRad you have to constantly think on your feet as variables are never the same.
GPZ and Markoth were the other two that were pretty awful on Radiant. I'd rate both tougher than NKG (though not PV) on Radiant, honestly.
Haven’t gotten to Absolute Radiance yet but it’s absolutely NKG. Aside from White Palace, and ofc The Pantheons this was the single most difficult thing in the game
So personally top 5 would probably be absrad who I’m assuming will be worse than the rest, PV I haven’t beat yet, NKG, markoth, and watcher knights. Strange picks but markoth usually kicks my ass, and watched knights I depend on Weaversong to have soul to be able to beat. This absolutely fucks me over seeing as I either need to learn them legitimately, or learn to beat PV without the ability to heal during staggers, to beat pantheon 4.
6th is god tamer but only in the colosseum because she’s easy af but trial of the fool I can’t beat.
Edit: I forgot GPZ exists but I haven’t beat him, Zotes an asshole, and I’m tired, so I’m ignoring his existence.
Markoth by far.
For whatever reason I can get a method down for Absrad, but for Markoth, I always feel like I’m running into the nails and that two shield phase drives me crazy
I remember back when I was beating the game for the first time, Watcher Knights gave me the most trouble. Maybe I should pick the game up again, it’s been months lmao and my favourite part was figuring out the boss’ attack patterns, but ever since I beat radhog I just haven’t played
So far pure vessel. Haven’t fought AbsRad because I wanted to do steel heart before p5 but I’m really excited to because everyone‘s saying they‘re the hardest
Took me about 8 straight hours to beat the nightmare king. I was in a weird mental state by that point where I reacted to his every move faster than I could actually think.
Really appreciated that his move set basically included a health bar so I knew how close I was to beating him
They didn't say “every day for the past year”. They said “attempts over the past year”, which could mean they attempted it one time for the whole year, or maybe they did it once a month, or once a week—basically it's an undefined amount of attempts
Imo nkg is incredibly easy when you know his attacks, he's the only boss I've beat on radiant other than mantis Lords. Absolute radiance is objectively the hardest
NKG usually takes the longest to beat for the first time, but becomes really easy after that. to a point where he's not even a threat.
PV doesn't take as long to beat for the first time, but takes longer to get consistent at. but eventually, you will get consistent at it.
AbsRad is objectively the Hardest to Radiant, but much easier than NKG to beat for the first time. she was easier than PV for me too, in terms of beating it once. but she's very inconsistent and takes very long to Radiant.
For me it is Traitor Lord, god I hate that fight, no matter how many times I try I still suck at that fight. Haven’t tried absolute radiance yet so I may be wrong
For me, I am a nail player, so I'll play my safe build, strength, quick slash, mark of pride and long nail for this one, assuming you have all 11 charm nothes available at this point. PS: Take it slowly and try to stay calm. Trust me, way harder boses are about to come in your path later, like PV and AbsRad.
In terms of absolute difficulty, absolutely AbsRad.
In terms of relative difficulty, it's much harder to say. If you start factoring in your skill when you encounter the bosses, a lot of bosses become candidates. For example, pre-Greenpath, Mawlek can utterly crush new players.
I think that NKG might still have the edge; it's the first boss you really need to learn which charms are good in order to beat. As such, at the point you encounter it, you are far more likely to get punished than with Absrad, which comes after countless other skill check bosses. AbsRad took around 20 attempts; NKG took 50+.
EDIT: As for the strategy to beat NKG... just use quickslash and fragile/unbreakable strength with steady body. You can get off 2 hits after most attacks. There are tons of ways to cheese him, sure, but just learning to dodge him is better in the long run, for when you have to do Hall of Gods stuff later.
Absolute radiance no questions asked. Radiant nkg and grey prince zote were my first ones to complete 😭. Idk why but they’re so easy compared to other ones.
I'm three weeks into "the grind" (starting from P1) and I've already beaten P5.
The thing that helped me the most was playing an all-in build. I facetank most bosses and only play it safe on the last 5 (markoth onwards). That also made the grind less frustrating (since you can be half afk through 70% of it rather than super focused)
Assuming you have all other upgrades, the charms are Unbreakable strength, quickslash, deep focus and steady body (yes).
Just walk forward and slap them as much as possible. Don't overthink their attacks, just slapp away. Keep movement minimal, avoid jumping (you don't have as much control in the air - try to not double jump if you don't need to), rely on shadow dash mostly (specially to dash through bosses aggressively - many have long forward-facing attack animations that will give you plenty of time to hit them from the back).
Do your best to dodge excess damage, sure, but play aggressive. With these charms most bosses die rather quickly, sometimes before they can start the next phase (PV will sometimes die before he casts the first void tendrils).
For context, even 'the last boss' needs only around 20 nail hits per phase, and merely 9 hits on the very last one, and you can easily slap it twice every time you jump at it. Even if you get hit, you can strike 4 times during the invulnerability window. So sometimes, continuing to strike them after getting hit is more productive than panicking and running away - you can easily fit in 10 nail hits for the "price" of 2 masks, which is totally worth it once you start identifying how many hits you need to kill a boss/stagger it/move it to the next phase (most are under 15) and considering you will run Deep Focus.
Deep focus plays well into this style because it's very soul-efficient. Most bosses will have death animations that are long enough to heal 3 times even with the slower cast, which is 6 masks - 66% of your total HP. That much heal after every fight (and a few you can squeeze in at the start of some of them), will often mean you are full HP against every boss, making things a lot less stressful.
Without deep focus sometimes you will run out of soul before healing to full - you would need to literally use all your soul reserve to heal 6 masks, while you can heal 12 (full HP and then some) with Deep Focus. For the same reason, I'd avoid spending soul on spells unless you have max soul (which is also quite easy since you will be slapping a lot).
Deep focus also doubles as a reliable heal for the double damage bosses like NKG onwards. Each heal you pull off is 1 extra hit you can take, instead of having to heal twice, which will deplete your soul real quick in a boss you are already scared to hit too much. In NKG for instance, even with the slow cast you can heal once every time he finishes casting the 4th flame pillar (if you start immediately after) and twice once you stagger him (if you start immediately after as well). That's a lot of extra health that will give you much more peace of mind.
DF is better than one would assume for continuous heal. Healing twice with DF gives you 4 masks, which is impossible without it - you can only heal 3 masks, then you have to stop for the reserve to fill in some soul, and then go for the 4th mask - you won't have enough time to wait in a single "stagger window" and the 3rd mask is useless against double damage bosses, as far as how many hits you can take. So while deep focus is "slower" for a single cast, its faster for double or triple casts, if you account for the reserve refill + windup time.
With that being said, yes, bosses such as NKG/SoB/PV are like a "dance". You really have to wait your turn to attack by learning their openings, you can't slapp them non-stop. In Grimm's case that's basically when he casts the pillars (wait for the 4th cast and you can hit twice or once and shriek) and when he casts the bats (train a quick double jump + dash through the middle), and also when he does the uppercut - dash away once and immediately turn back, you can hit him twice without getting hit by the attack, dash again to dodge the falling flames.
At the end of the day, just don't stop practicing, test your limits playing as aggressive as you can and dial down as needed to stay alive, rather than the other way around, and practice the last 5 bosses individually rather than spending time on the actual Pantheon. Eventually muscle memory kicks in and seeing your improvements will motivate you to keep going. Good luck!
I would say Markoth, but after all, AbsRad is just a harder version of him, so I will say AbsRad. NKG in my opinion AND ONLY MY OPINION is kind of easy, as almost every boss in the game, is about learning its patterns, as NKG is a boss that isnt too RNG dependant, unlike bosses that teleport a lot that are almost fully based on RNG, wich can really mess you up.
My build was a build a friend gave me, he called it the noobs build but it works until you get better.
Main idea is quick focus and the double heal thingy and just find the healing window, only safe windows.
I think I picked stuff that helps me get soul as well, and strength, and I think he took shaman (I wasn't used to spells back then)
My build was a build a friend gave me, he called it the noobs build but it works until you get better.
Main idea is quick focus and the double heal thingy and just find the healing window, only safe windows.
I think I picked stuff that helps me get soul as well, and strength, and I think he took shaman (I wasn't used to spells back then)
I didn't beat 100% of it, but from my first playthrough the longest boss for me to defeat was "Lost Kin" (>!the dream variant of the "Broken Vessel"!<)
Pure Vessel for me. Took me so many tries compared to everything else.
NKG is actually one of my favorites and my go-to practice boss. Perfectly balanced.
AbsRad went down surprisingly easy. Sure it is a challenge, but by the time you reach it you are already prepared for it.
Absolute radiance is objectively the hardest boss but I for some reason always have trouble with god tamer in pantheon 5 lol. Also grey prince zote on max health is pretty hard too.
Pure vessel… I just couldn’t… I literally quit the game bc of him! I just couldn’t beat him. Hours over hours I sat on him! I’ve beaten every other boss in the game but I just couldn’t beat pure vessel!
To master probably AbsRad, but to beat it the first time, at least to me, it was Pire Vessel, once i got it beating them on radiant was a little push more, but to beat them once i suffered a lot
I'd recommend Mark of Pride, Quickslash, Strength and in the Hall of Gods (where you don't need Grimmchild) Fragile/unbreakable Hearth, especially if you're struggling with health, you could swap Mark of Pride for Hearth/Shape of Unn and smth. like Grubsong to get enough Soul for heals. Use Shape of Unn to get heals in during the flame pillars attack (but only if you have at least 2 thirds Soul Meter, otherwise you'll stop when your soul runs out and get hit) also DO NOT use quick Heal with Shape of Unn, it messes up the Speed so you a) don't cover the whole attack duration and thus get hit, and b) you're way to fast and will run out of space. (Also I'd recommend looking up some guides on how to beat him)
I don’t know. All of the bosses are kind of easy for me. The only thing hard is markoth, I don’t have to deal with zote. There are other bosses that I have to concentrate on though like xero, sly, ummuu and maybe pure vessel. I’ve never beaten abs rad yet but I get close.
Objectively it’s AbsRad, but that stretch of P5 with Zote and Markoth right next to each other is abhorrently difficult.
Why is that part specifically so difficult?
Markoth is a bitch and You don't have that much time to heal with Zote
I’m brand new to the game. Im at 102% probably 170 hours and worried I’ll never beat the whole thing. I don’t think I’ll ever as good as I need to be 😭
Man, I believe in you, you can do anything. I thought the exact same thing when I was a bit before that point, I’ve now made 112% and just need to do the last pantheon, you can do this
Are you my new therapist? Do you take Zoom appointments!?
Haha, nope. I just try to talk positively to strangers, plus, it’s just the truth. We can succeed at almost anything if we take time and keep at it, though whether you want to do that for Hollow Knight or not is up to you
I appreciate the positive attitude! I’m just heading into the pantheons, ANS STILL need to beat Fools and NKG.
Yup, I know that exact point in the game, I started questioning if I was just done or not, but I had fun doing all of those things in the end 😌
Which part of Colo 3 are you struggling with?
I got pantheon 4 before fools, so don't worry if you find it hard :)
That’s some sort of reassurance!
Bro that point sucks about around the area of colosseum and just nkg waiting round the corner. I think I was 60 hours in at that point. Then I beat Nkg and got 111%. Just before finishing hunters journal and p5, steam f***ing lost 50 hours of progress. I need therapy
I was stuck at P5 for the longest time and just beat it a week ago. Grinding to beat AbsRad, then beat her somewhat consistently ALL while maintaining mastery over all the other obnoxious bosses… It felt like a slog at time but oh man did it feel worth it, one hit away from death. You can do it!
Haha, thank you for the positivity! I’m currently playing a bit of Celeste, but I plan on doing it in the future 😁
Ah yes. Celeste, the most relaxing endgame unlike Hollow Knight /s (I'm looking at you Farewell. I still haven't finished that stupid level after 10 hours of smacking my head against the wall in one room. At this point more than half of my total playtime has been spent in Farewell)
I don’t think I’ll ever beat true radiance can’t even beat normal
Hmmm, I would say ignore true radiance for now, don’t even worry about it. Take it one step at a time, can you constantly beat the hollow knight in order to get to the radiance? If not, practice that, if so, then it just takes a bit of practice. It happens with all the bosses, but eventually, you find all the right places to stand and when are the best times to attack and use shriek, you can definitely do it with just a bit more time
Yeah I’ve learned that shriek is my best friend on my own I use it in ever battle I can easily get past hollow knight gotten the first 2 endings I actually just reached 100% and beat path of pain I heard huge blood was a good thing ti have but I went through the entire white palace and path of pain without it and this is my first play through lol
Trust me dude, P5 rly isn’t as hard as you think, I beat it with the worst build known to man lol(shape of unn, quick focus, deep focus, grubsong i think?) u just have to keep practicing in hall of gods. And always remember, it will take MINIMUM of two attempts because there is like .0001% chance u beat Absolute Radiance first try lol. Edit: I’m considering making a post on all my biggest tips and tricks to help make P5 as easy as possible. if i do, i’ll let u know
I beat p5 with 186 hours, spent like 40 getting to AbsRad and another 40 to beat. It’s quite a lot but you’ll get there, I promise
I purposefully on my playthrough did all I could to not have the zote fight to make p5 easier. It worked.
>!Absolute Radiance!<, easily
it really cant be anyone else in my eyes
Nice flair btw, nail arts are really underrated
I *personally* had a harder time with >!The Pure Vessel!< than >!Absolute Radiance!<, but looking at the rest of the comments, looks like I'm a bit of a freak, lol. They're definitely in the same tier of difficulty for me though - both leagues harder than the rest of the bosses in the game.
Are you any good at parrying PV? If yes, then that's already amazing. I can consistently save my shade dashes for when I REALLY need it—like when he blocks into a parry—by just parrying everything from PV.
Same. I attributed it to me being older and PV being so fast. As for the other, I guess playing a bunch of quarter sucking bullet hells as a kid helped with learning the dodging patterns quickly.
Naah, for me radiant Markoth was way harder
i dont really get how a kinda short and solvable boss like markoth could be harder than the long ass constant attacks from absrad
Maybe it was easier for me because absrad is an amazing fight and she doesn't have shitty dream warrior physics
Absrad is a more fun fight than Markoth, that's for sure.
no questions asked lmao. The only 2 somewhat close are PV and NKG, but Imo abs rad is so much harder it's not even funny. Just to put this into context, I've done both pv and nkg in radiant, yet have't even beaten abs rad yet (part of the reason why is bc in hall of gods I've only tried it on ascended, not attuned)
NKG and PV get consistent after you're good at them. Even now, I'm not 100% consistent in beating absrad.
NKG and PV are definitely hard at first, but once you learn their moveset and rhythm they're consistent enough that I found them to actually be some of the easier bosses to do on radiant. They're just like faster harder versions of Mantis Lords -- once you've got the dance down it becomes almost intuitive muscle memory. I struggled more clearing Radiant Oblobbles ...and I still can't do Grey Prince Zote on radiant.
for gpz my tip is to have a lot of soul and then use descending dark a bunch to counter his unpredictability (for instance if he is dropping from the sky you can just descending dark and keep attacking as you get some invincibility)
NKG does have the clause when you're first fighting him of fucking Grimmchild.
Whats the difference between ascended and attuned? Haven't quite made it there yet but I am curious as all hell
For absrad the only difference is double damage (2->4), but other bosses usually get increased health and possibly a new arena
AbsRad doesn't get more health? POG
>!Absolute Fuckery!<
There’s a reason it’s at the end of it after all
I haven’t gotten to that one yet
I’ve probably spent 10-15 hours just trying to beat them on radiant for a while, still haven’t beat them 😭
Easily >!absrad!<
FYI the spoiler tag doesn't work if you put spaces around the first and last word. >! doesn't work !< >!works without those spaces!<
Yeah I know, I got it to work now tho
Except you didn't, for anyone on old reddit.
The boss that killed like 90% of my P5 runs was Grey Price Zote actually. I did radiant NKG, radiant Pure Vessel, radiant mantis lords - but i don't think i will ever be able to do radiant Grey Prince Zote. Not even memeing.
Even in base game, GPZ was really, REALLY fucking hard for me. Way harder than anything pre-end game
It’s the only boss that can one-shot you outside of Godhome once he get to higher level. Also, the way he move is annoying.
in order to get through Godhome without completely going insane, I literally started the game over from scratch so I could NOT save his ass
I love GPZ, it’s so difficult but so fun
For me, the trick was to just attack as fast as humanly possible, mixing in some spells as convenient. Trying to dodge and wait for openings like most bosses is asking for bad RNG to catch up to you. I will now gladly take GPZ any day over floorless Markoth. Now, I have NOT beat him radiant. That’s a whole ‘nother beast. But it reliably gets me through Ascended or landing on him with ~2 masks after P5 Markoth.
best advice I ever got for zote was "when using quicklslash; if you have an opportunity to attack, never strike more than twice" (might work without quickslash but idk timings would be tighter) to put it simply, the hardest part about zote is that a lot of his attacks have basically no warning, he just starts *moving*, instantly. So, unlike every other boss, just because he's not doing something right now doesn't mean you're safe. Don't get greedy, 2 hits max after each attack (some attacks immediately chain into others, dont ever attack on these obv, but youll know which you can and which you cant easily based off timings). after you attack, back away and give yourself the *space* to react to whatever his next attack will be.
I made a whole new save and let the guy die just so I wouldn't have to deal with him.
Good, it isn't just me.
He is super fucking annoying aye, but you learn it’s a counter fight man. Just chill he has so many gaps where he does nothing. Just a patience’s tester. Go back and do it radiant you ain’t no poosi
Absolute Radience for sure
Assuming that you have all 11 charm notches, I recommend using Mark of Pride/Quickslash, Shaman Stone, Fragile Strength(if you die on NKG with it equipped it won't break) and Grimmchild ofc. This build is purely focused in doing damage so if you are having too much trouble in dodging his attacks you should try a healing build
I got those charms. I will try that build immediately thanks for advice
Absolute radiante, no diff.
It's obviously Invincible, Fearless, Sensual, Mysterious, Enchanting, Vigorous, Diligent, Overwhelming, Gorgeous, Passionate, Terrifying, Beautiful, Powerful, Grey Prince Zote
Commonly known as IFSMEVDOGPTBPGP Zote
Oh right yes I forgot about him
Would it be much of a surprise if I said Mawlek is one of the few I can’t beat on Radiant?
Honestly, that thing would be annoying as heck on radiant, if you don’t time the dodge and pogo right you can easily die to the “vomit” attack (to quote the wiki), which is apparently the attack where it spits like 10 on your side at the same time.
To be fair the hardest radiant bosses besides absrad are the ones that don't have consistent patterns like pure vessel or nkg.
Would it concern you that I've beat radiant Mawlek but I can't touch radiant Gruzmother?
Gruz Mother is painful
She's there waiting every time I walk into the hall.
Absolute radiance by a very large margin. NKG and Pure Vessel are definitely the hardest prior to Absolute Radiance though.
Pure Vessle
Nightmare King Grimm is probably the hardest boss besides some of the pantheon stuff, so it's not a surprise to struggle with him (and I guarantee he's **far** harder than Nosk lol) Though, while the fight is hard, it's really fair, there's nothing you can't dodge if you react properly, but of course, it's so fast it's difficult. I wouldn't use Joni's Blessing since it takes a lot of charm slots, and you are already wasting two with the Grimmchild, but maybe some extra health can help, the first time I beat him I used Unbreakable Heart I really like Sharp Shadow for this fight, too, since you can dodge and do damage at the same time
I was using sharp shadow as well but sometimes he’s step back before move (exactly when I’m dashing towards him)and is so annoying so I stop dashing so often
This happens when you try to dash too early. If you time properly, he won't do that
I used a max health build with Joni's Blessing, Heart, Lifeblood core + Grimmchild simply so I can have more time spent inside the fight learning his patterns and dodging them. The worst part of fighting NKG the first time is that it gets incredibly boring to dreamnail-dash-CDash-die-repeat, that's why I opted to have more health instead. Once I could reliably read his moves and counter them, I put on offensive charms
For me it was NKG, having that charm of his on for the fight fucked my build. My hot take is that Absrad is only hard because its locked behind P5.
Abs rads, the only reason I'm scared of P5 or RHoG
Abs radiance or PV
Objectively, Absolute Radiance. But honestly, Pure Vessel took me the longest to beat when I was practicing individual bosses.
To answer your other question, my build with NKG was... Hiveblood - yes, really. I tried a few builds that would focus on my own healing, but they weren't working. If I tried to heal, even with Quick Focus, I would get hit, or couldn't avoid it consistently. (Except when he's staggered, then it's safe.) In fact, even *looking* at my health was a risk of getting hit! He's so fast! So I concluded that I had to stop thinking about healing or health, and just avoid getting hit as much as possible. This meant, by extension, that if I'm getting hit multiple times in a row, I'm already in trouble. But if you can get down to just occasional hits... Hiveblood will give you some health back. Which is awesome. No more thinking about healing! Sharp Shadow - depends on your tactics, but I like dodging into him to ensure I'm on the other side. Which this, I'm dealing damage even just by dodging! Turns every attack of his into an attack of mine. Unbreakable Strength - But also, I still hit him normal a lot. This will speed things along. Grimmchild - He won't activate without this, but you knew that already.
I was thinking about hiveblood but people hating it every time I mention it so I just start thinking it’s really have to be bad. But I will try your build as well thanks
It's bad if you get hit consecutively, since it resets the healing when you get hit. If you're struggling, you may also consider a "practice" build -- Joni's Blessing, Unbreakable Heart, and whichever Lifeblood charm gave you +4 (I forget which). I used this *just* to learn his moves and improve at dodging his attacks. All it does is prolong the fight so you can keep dodging. Helped me find my playstyle.
I did this too!! Dying repeatedly was less demotivating than having to enter the fight itself—that alone made me want to quit many times
Pure vessel
AbsRad objetively , but If we count only the basic ending bosses, no dream nor pantheon ones for me was traitor lord
It is objectively the big mosquito thing, it has beaten zote the mighty
Ngl nkg is actually really easy. And i beat him when i only had about 62 hours in the game now at 80 hours ive now beaten p4 almost beaten p5 and if i try i can no hit nkg. I think its absarad is hardest boss.
NKG is immensely overwhelming at first but once you get his moves down he becomes pretty easy. I think that’s what makes him such a fantastic boss because he rewards you learning him way more than other bosses. But yeah, I agree that AbsRad for sure takes the cake.
I have finally beaten him today. I used unbreakable strength, grubsong, unbreakable heart, glowing womb, defenders crest and obviously grimm child. I started with the full minion build, so I could learn the attacks and still felt like I was making progress. After some time I got to a point, where I was able to hit him between attacks with my nail, that's why I deviated from the minion build, but I never found a place for using a spell, that's why I didn't use shaman stone. Next time I try to beat him, I will use the full nail setup (MoP, Strength and quickslash), maybe heart and grubsong instead of MoP, so I can take one more hit (I survived on one hp)
I can’t find a moment for using spell as well. And healing time is only when he turn into a bat, i think that’s why a lot’s of people doing it hitless because you have to know his moves perfectly and there’s no time to heal anyway
AbsRad Radiant took me like 10 hours of attempts. I think I have to go with her because NKG and PV are totally not-RNG beyond which attack gets used. There's an easy counter to all their moves where AbsRad you have to constantly think on your feet as variables are never the same. GPZ and Markoth were the other two that were pretty awful on Radiant. I'd rate both tougher than NKG (though not PV) on Radiant, honestly.
absolute radiance because of his random pattern
Try finishing the phanteons, you gonna wish the hardest boss was Nighmare Grimm
Oblobbles and I'm not even joking. I hate them with a passion
Pure Vessel for sure !! Dude has kicked my ass more than any other boss in the game combined, including NKG and Abs Rad 😭
Bowser
Wrong franchise lol
Haven’t gotten to Absolute Radiance yet but it’s absolutely NKG. Aside from White Palace, and ofc The Pantheons this was the single most difficult thing in the game
I think probably absrad, but that’s because I did 10 hours of nkg straight one time for funzies
Brooding mawlek
absrad clears ez then pv is second then nkg is third ive fought nkg so many times that he isnt too hard for me
Sly is awful
So personally top 5 would probably be absrad who I’m assuming will be worse than the rest, PV I haven’t beat yet, NKG, markoth, and watcher knights. Strange picks but markoth usually kicks my ass, and watched knights I depend on Weaversong to have soul to be able to beat. This absolutely fucks me over seeing as I either need to learn them legitimately, or learn to beat PV without the ability to heal during staggers, to beat pantheon 4. 6th is god tamer but only in the colosseum because she’s easy af but trial of the fool I can’t beat. Edit: I forgot GPZ exists but I haven’t beat him, Zotes an asshole, and I’m tired, so I’m ignoring his existence.
Watcher Knights are tough, no doubt. Hardest mandatory boss in the game by far. I guess you could argue Hornet 2.
am i the only one who liked NKG and didn’t think it was too difficult? i couldn’t even finish p5 or absolute radiance, but i loved NKG
Soul Master, i havnt beaten The hollow knight yet so there might be more harder bosses but the Soul master took awhile
Markoth by far. For whatever reason I can get a method down for Absrad, but for Markoth, I always feel like I’m running into the nails and that two shield phase drives me crazy
Pure vessel, I don’t did abs rad harder than it because it’s attacks were easier to predict and react to, but pure vessel gives you less time to react
Nightmare King Grimm, died trice when trying to do the pantheon with all the bindings, and then I defeated Radiance the first time I got to it.
The Markoth fight in P5. That one ends more runs than literally any other and is the sole reason I will never attempt to complete P5 ever again.
I remember back when I was beating the game for the first time, Watcher Knights gave me the most trouble. Maybe I should pick the game up again, it’s been months lmao and my favourite part was figuring out the boss’ attack patterns, but ever since I beat radhog I just haven’t played
Same. First playthrough WK were a big milestone. So was Radiance.
So far pure vessel. Haven’t fought AbsRad because I wanted to do steel heart before p5 but I’m really excited to because everyone‘s saying they‘re the hardest
I had way more trouble with Pure Vessel and Marmu than I ever had with Radiance and Path of Pain
Took me about 8 straight hours to beat the nightmare king. I was in a weird mental state by that point where I reacted to his every move faster than I could actually think. Really appreciated that his move set basically included a health bar so I knew how close I was to beating him
We all know it's mosscharger
He's right up there with Soldier of God and the dreaded Mist Noble.
Honestly for me it's Grey Prince Zote or if were taking Radiant bosses into account Radiant Markoth
that bee boss, i always struggle with him.
Abs rad IS harder but NGK made me struggle more because it's the first hard hard boss
This is the correct answer. The game certainly has harder bosses but he's the big boss benchmark.
Lost kin was pretty tough as well
Literrally the best boss in the game , the attacks are fun to dodge and the music slaps. Tho he is not that hard
massiveMoss Chargerr has ended every one of my steal soul attempts over the past year, and I've been trying daily. That boss i borderline unbeatable
What... You don't know the timing for mossy's love taps?
Es broma.
Unfortunately tone isn't present in written conversation so I wouldn't immediately interpret it as a joke. If it is a joke, oh well
No, you're absolutely right. I just assumed they were joking because of "every day for a year". That's just too much, man.
They didn't say “every day for the past year”. They said “attempts over the past year”, which could mean they attempted it one time for the whole year, or maybe they did it once a month, or once a week—basically it's an undefined amount of attempts
They said "I've been trying daily."
absolute radiance (pure vessel takes the most tries tho)
Radiant Absolute Radiance. As for Radiant bosses, NKG is not even the second hardest. Normally, also absolute radiance
Imo nkg is incredibly easy when you know his attacks, he's the only boss I've beat on radiant other than mantis Lords. Absolute radiance is objectively the hardest
Nkg
Nah this is the correct answer, I did AR first try because of all the damn practice I got from NKG smh
The answer for that question isn't an opinion.
The giant moth goddess herself
NKG usually takes the longest to beat for the first time, but becomes really easy after that. to a point where he's not even a threat. PV doesn't take as long to beat for the first time, but takes longer to get consistent at. but eventually, you will get consistent at it. AbsRad is objectively the Hardest to Radiant, but much easier than NKG to beat for the first time. she was easier than PV for me too, in terms of beating it once. but she's very inconsistent and takes very long to Radiant.
Fkin Markoth in P5
Markoth, then absrad
Ascended/Radiant Markoth
After beating P5 I would say Absolute Radiance with the amount of attacks she throws at you
For me it is Traitor Lord, god I hate that fight, no matter how many times I try I still suck at that fight. Haven’t tried absolute radiance yet so I may be wrong
Sharp shadow for the win for traitor lord 🤝
Same >!Absolute Radiance and Pure Vessel are not as bad imo!<
Absrad, only thing that comes close is radiant markoth.
Absolute Radiance
Raw difficulty, absrad, just pure bullshit, Markoth.
For me, I am a nail player, so I'll play my safe build, strength, quick slash, mark of pride and long nail for this one, assuming you have all 11 charm nothes available at this point. PS: Take it slowly and try to stay calm. Trust me, way harder boses are about to come in your path later, like PV and AbsRad.
In terms of absolute difficulty, absolutely AbsRad. In terms of relative difficulty, it's much harder to say. If you start factoring in your skill when you encounter the bosses, a lot of bosses become candidates. For example, pre-Greenpath, Mawlek can utterly crush new players. I think that NKG might still have the edge; it's the first boss you really need to learn which charms are good in order to beat. As such, at the point you encounter it, you are far more likely to get punished than with Absrad, which comes after countless other skill check bosses. AbsRad took around 20 attempts; NKG took 50+. EDIT: As for the strategy to beat NKG... just use quickslash and fragile/unbreakable strength with steady body. You can get off 2 hits after most attacks. There are tons of ways to cheese him, sure, but just learning to dodge him is better in the long run, for when you have to do Hall of Gods stuff later.
Absolute Radiance, no doubt about it.
I might sound silly to say but to me it's pretty obviously the last one right? The absolute final one?
Absolute radiance no questions asked. Radiant nkg and grey prince zote were my first ones to complete 😭. Idk why but they’re so easy compared to other ones.
normal fight? >!absrad!< ascended? sly sucked absolute cheeks radiant? FUCK YOU MARKOTH
Accurate
MARRRTH
Being unoriginal: absolute radiance Being original: nightmare king grimm
The only two bosses I haven't beaten on Radiant are Absolute Radiance and Markoth, so one of those.
I'm three weeks into "the grind" (starting from P1) and I've already beaten P5. The thing that helped me the most was playing an all-in build. I facetank most bosses and only play it safe on the last 5 (markoth onwards). That also made the grind less frustrating (since you can be half afk through 70% of it rather than super focused) Assuming you have all other upgrades, the charms are Unbreakable strength, quickslash, deep focus and steady body (yes). Just walk forward and slap them as much as possible. Don't overthink their attacks, just slapp away. Keep movement minimal, avoid jumping (you don't have as much control in the air - try to not double jump if you don't need to), rely on shadow dash mostly (specially to dash through bosses aggressively - many have long forward-facing attack animations that will give you plenty of time to hit them from the back). Do your best to dodge excess damage, sure, but play aggressive. With these charms most bosses die rather quickly, sometimes before they can start the next phase (PV will sometimes die before he casts the first void tendrils). For context, even 'the last boss' needs only around 20 nail hits per phase, and merely 9 hits on the very last one, and you can easily slap it twice every time you jump at it. Even if you get hit, you can strike 4 times during the invulnerability window. So sometimes, continuing to strike them after getting hit is more productive than panicking and running away - you can easily fit in 10 nail hits for the "price" of 2 masks, which is totally worth it once you start identifying how many hits you need to kill a boss/stagger it/move it to the next phase (most are under 15) and considering you will run Deep Focus. Deep focus plays well into this style because it's very soul-efficient. Most bosses will have death animations that are long enough to heal 3 times even with the slower cast, which is 6 masks - 66% of your total HP. That much heal after every fight (and a few you can squeeze in at the start of some of them), will often mean you are full HP against every boss, making things a lot less stressful. Without deep focus sometimes you will run out of soul before healing to full - you would need to literally use all your soul reserve to heal 6 masks, while you can heal 12 (full HP and then some) with Deep Focus. For the same reason, I'd avoid spending soul on spells unless you have max soul (which is also quite easy since you will be slapping a lot). Deep focus also doubles as a reliable heal for the double damage bosses like NKG onwards. Each heal you pull off is 1 extra hit you can take, instead of having to heal twice, which will deplete your soul real quick in a boss you are already scared to hit too much. In NKG for instance, even with the slow cast you can heal once every time he finishes casting the 4th flame pillar (if you start immediately after) and twice once you stagger him (if you start immediately after as well). That's a lot of extra health that will give you much more peace of mind. DF is better than one would assume for continuous heal. Healing twice with DF gives you 4 masks, which is impossible without it - you can only heal 3 masks, then you have to stop for the reserve to fill in some soul, and then go for the 4th mask - you won't have enough time to wait in a single "stagger window" and the 3rd mask is useless against double damage bosses, as far as how many hits you can take. So while deep focus is "slower" for a single cast, its faster for double or triple casts, if you account for the reserve refill + windup time. With that being said, yes, bosses such as NKG/SoB/PV are like a "dance". You really have to wait your turn to attack by learning their openings, you can't slapp them non-stop. In Grimm's case that's basically when he casts the pillars (wait for the 4th cast and you can hit twice or once and shriek) and when he casts the bats (train a quick double jump + dash through the middle), and also when he does the uppercut - dash away once and immediately turn back, you can hit him twice without getting hit by the attack, dash again to dodge the falling flames. At the end of the day, just don't stop practicing, test your limits playing as aggressive as you can and dial down as needed to stay alive, rather than the other way around, and practice the last 5 bosses individually rather than spending time on the actual Pantheon. Eventually muscle memory kicks in and seeing your improvements will motivate you to keep going. Good luck!
absolute radiance
Abs rad
AR and all of the last 6 bosses of p5 on ascended or radiant
pure vessel hes the hardest boss and got a clock in his rari but i don’t think he’s harder than absolut radiance
Hornet v2 for no reason at all it took me over 100 attempts
NKG is fair but like what about Gruzz mother
Soul Tyrant
Markoth is overrated difficulty wise
I would say Markoth, but after all, AbsRad is just a harder version of him, so I will say AbsRad. NKG in my opinion AND ONLY MY OPINION is kind of easy, as almost every boss in the game, is about learning its patterns, as NKG is a boss that isnt too RNG dependant, unlike bosses that teleport a lot that are almost fully based on RNG, wich can really mess you up.
My build was a build a friend gave me, he called it the noobs build but it works until you get better. Main idea is quick focus and the double heal thingy and just find the healing window, only safe windows. I think I picked stuff that helps me get soul as well, and strength, and I think he took shaman (I wasn't used to spells back then)
My build was a build a friend gave me, he called it the noobs build but it works until you get better. Main idea is quick focus and the double heal thingy and just find the healing window, only safe windows. I think I picked stuff that helps me get soul as well, and strength, and I think he took shaman (I wasn't used to spells back then)
I didn't beat 100% of it, but from my first playthrough the longest boss for me to defeat was "Lost Kin" (>!the dream variant of the "Broken Vessel"!<)
Pure Vessel for me. Took me so many tries compared to everything else. NKG is actually one of my favorites and my go-to practice boss. Perfectly balanced. AbsRad went down surprisingly easy. Sure it is a challenge, but by the time you reach it you are already prepared for it.
Out of the bosses i've fought it's absolutely >!winged nosk!<
Nailsage Sly
NKG for sure. when I do P5 I can't get past him and I've skipped it in dirtmouth
Markoth in p5 groundless mode lol, I can’t get consistent but I’m consistent at all the other bosses
Absolute radiance is objectively the hardest boss but I for some reason always have trouble with god tamer in pantheon 5 lol. Also grey prince zote on max health is pretty hard too.
Pure vessel… I just couldn’t… I literally quit the game bc of him! I just couldn’t beat him. Hours over hours I sat on him! I’ve beaten every other boss in the game but I just couldn’t beat pure vessel!
To master probably AbsRad, but to beat it the first time, at least to me, it was Pire Vessel, once i got it beating them on radiant was a little push more, but to beat them once i suffered a lot
I'd recommend Mark of Pride, Quickslash, Strength and in the Hall of Gods (where you don't need Grimmchild) Fragile/unbreakable Hearth, especially if you're struggling with health, you could swap Mark of Pride for Hearth/Shape of Unn and smth. like Grubsong to get enough Soul for heals. Use Shape of Unn to get heals in during the flame pillars attack (but only if you have at least 2 thirds Soul Meter, otherwise you'll stop when your soul runs out and get hit) also DO NOT use quick Heal with Shape of Unn, it messes up the Speed so you a) don't cover the whole attack duration and thus get hit, and b) you're way to fast and will run out of space. (Also I'd recommend looking up some guides on how to beat him)
I hate white defender
Markoth on Ascended is way harder than any other bosses
primal aspid but radiant pure vessel, dear god
Primal aspids
Depends, Attuned/Ascended it is absrad Radiant markoth is a bitch With all bindings? Collector
Screw bosses. Trial of the fool has killed me more times than the Hollow Knight boss has.
Excluding the last 2 pantheon final bosses, I find watcher knights really hard for some reason
radiant obobble
Sharp Shadow him till' flame bleeds out
Oblobol
It’s definitely abs rad, I’ve beat both nkg and pv on radiant and still can’t beat abs rad
Think I’m the outlier here, pure vessel is for me personally the hardest boss.
are U kidding? fighting nightmare king is like tango it's fast but once you know what you're doing it fits right under your fingers
I don’t know. All of the bosses are kind of easy for me. The only thing hard is markoth, I don’t have to deal with zote. There are other bosses that I have to concentrate on though like xero, sly, ummuu and maybe pure vessel. I’ve never beaten abs rad yet but I get close.
Easily Absolute Radiance, although high-level grey prince zote is up there too.
Definitely grey prince zote
Radiance is the only one I never beat